This Will All Make Perfect Sense Someday

"This will all make perfect sense someday.
There's got to be a reason for the rain."

Sing it John Mayer.

It's been a few weeks of ups and downs, but things are on an upswing right now.

I received, what is quite possibly one of the best postcards from a friend ever.

I ran in a 5k and 10k on Saturday. The 5k was 5 seconds slower than my PR at 24:01. I need to keep telling myself that every race isn't going to be a PR. The 10k was for added miles. Follow a nice little 15k run up with brunch and it's a good morning.

I love Jack and Diet Cokes or a JDC or a Jack and Diane. I had one on Monday and I had forgotten how much I loved them.

Tuesday I ran my own version of speed sessions. I got there early and was pretty lazy. I only ran 4 of my 6 mile repeats. And I took much longer than the 1 minute rest. 7:52, 8:05, 8:06, 8:11. They should have been all 8:05's...

I went to speed early so I could have enough time to go to Lady GaGa. It wasn't my favorite concert, but I definitely loved her message of acceptance and individuality.

Tonight I ran 5.5 miles. All but the first and last mile sucked. Followed the run with a Blue Moon. Hurried home to make red velvet cake balls for a co-worker whose last day is tomorrow.  I just rolled out 48 of these suckers and will have to dip them in chocolate tomorrow before I go to work. AND it's Low Sugar Lent. They may not look like much right now, but tomorrow morning they are going to look pretty awesome.



And the best thing about this week? Thursday is my Friday.

Low Sugar Lent: It's Almost Over

So there is a reason I didn't call it "No Sugar Lent" and that's because it hasn't been entirely sugar free. All desserts and sugary snack have been cut out of my daily diet, however there are things like Gatorade, Gu, and Luna Bars (before runs) which I have not given up because of the half marathon training. But for the most part, all other sugars have been limited. There are a few items that I know had sugar in them, but I didn't realize it until after I had already eaten.

These items would include:

• salsa ( A LOT of store bought salsas have added sugar)
• BBQ sauce. I ate a BBQ chicken pizza the day before my half a few weeks ago and didn't realize that the sauce probably had lots of sugar in it.
• Bread and lunch meat. most breads and lunch meat have added sugars. Thank you Subway...for the 2 weeks I ate you multiple times a week because I was too lazy to pack my lunch.
• BBQ Baked lays. To go along with the Subway of course. 
• And I am sure there are other foods that snuck in without my knowing. 

Surprisingly, the majority of sugar cravings have gone away. I am snacking less in the evening and during the day. I'll see a dessert, but it's not like I have to have it. I almost don't even miss them...but that doesn't stop me from drooling over new desserts to make.

I haven't decided what I am going to do on Easter. If I am going eat sugar and dessert (and Ketchup) or stick with this low sugar thing. Maybe I will just buy myself a snack size bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs?

Daydreamer

So do you ever have those days, maybe weeks, where all you do is daydream about what-ifs? This week has been one of them.

Some of those daydreams included:

• A trip to Amsterdam and/or Key West and possibly Seattle. I may (and by may, I mean, did) look up flights to all of these locations. 
• Running a mile under 7 minutes.
• Eating a sugary dessert. At this point, anything. However, I am not sure I will add most sugars back after Low Sugar Lent.
• Losing 10-15 lbs and keeping it off.
• Buying a new car. Umm, my car is perfectly fine and has at least 50,000+ miles of life. 
• Wondering why Jackalopes aren't real.

You see, there is a new brewery in town, Jackalope Brewery.  And I have never really given it much thought, but I learned this weekend that Jackalopes are a "mythical" creature. And I was a little crushed. So to verify their mythical-ness, I immediately went to the holy grail of everything, Wikipedia. They are indeed a mythical creature. They did however show pictures of the jackalope in modern culture. And I realized I had my very own picture taken on a jackalope. I immediately found it buried among old pictures.

And I am so thankful I decided to make a change.

Run the Bluegrass Half Marathon Recap

Friday evening I left Nashville for Lexington, KY to meet my mom for a the weekend. Lexington is the almost halfway point between Nashville and Charleston, WV so it is a pretty easy place to meet. And believe it or not, they have better shopping than Charleston, WV. We hung out, laughed a lot and did some shopping. A pretty relaxing way to spend the day before a half marathon.

Run the Bluegrass was my 3rd half and most successful to date. I wrote about my first half where I almost peed my pants near the finish.  I also wrote about my second half where I felt a lot better, but only improved my time by a few seconds, but thankfully I came nowhere near almost peeing my pants!

Run the Bluegrass was an incredibly well organized race. Parking was a breeze the course was well marked. The aid stations were stocked. The weather was also amazing. The only thing I could have done without was the wind.

I did a warm up of not quite a mile. My only goal running this half was to finish in under 2 hours and to apply some of the things I have learned in speed sessions this year. I wanted to start slow and finish fast. This is a pretty new concept to me and it seems much easier said than done. The excitement at the starting line can cause many people, myself included, to start too fast.

The night before the race I met up with a few fellow bloggers/friends Krissie and Nathan, Emily, and new friends Holli, Lisa, and Mary Anne. And my mom came too! I proceeded to eat a pizza that 2 people probably could have shared. My mom later told me she was going to have a piece but by the time she thought about it, it was gone. Whoops! Good laughs were had by all and my nerves were definitely at ease.




I met up with Krissie and Nathan the morning of the race and Krissie made sure to get a pre-race photo. Thanks for sharing the photo!





Before I knew it we were off! I started more towards the front of this race since there was no corral system and about 700 runners.  I tend to discount my abilities and start towards the back and end up weaving and getting frustrated.  Nathan started a little bit behind me and about 3/4 of a mile in, he caught up to me. The first 3 miles in my opinion had the most hills. Nathan and I exchanged a few words and pretty much ran next to each other for about 4 miles.  Around mile 3 we left Ironworks Horse park and turned onto a main road.  The wind on this road sucked and I am pretty sure there were people behind me drafting the wind. I knew there was a water stop at mile 5 and I had a Gu ready around 4.5. At mile 5 I took the GU and felt a lot better. I knew that one of the hardest parts was behind me as the road was a gentle incline into the wind. Coming back it would be downhill and hopefully with the wind.

I was passed by a 9 year old around mile 6.

Miles 6.5-8.5 were kind of boring as we weaved through Fasig-Titpton. Somewhere on Newtown Pike I saw Krissie.

At mile 10 I took a second Gu. Just after mile 10 I saw Emmie, running her race. (Emmie has an incredible story and I am so proud of all of her accomplishments!)

During mile 9 I realized I would probably be finishing closer to 1:50 than 2:00 hours. This definitely pushed me a lot. I finally reached the 12 mile race marker and had a sinking feeling as my watch was at 12.25 miles. My time goals could have been in jeopardy.  However, the markers were off and my watch was pretty correct.  Before I knew it my mom was cheering for me and I was crossing the finish line.

Crossing with a smile!


I am also pretty proud of my splits.

Split	Time
1	0:08:52
2	0:08:47
3	0:08:37
4	0:08:49
5	0:08:55
6	0:08:40
7	0:08:37
8	0:08:35
9	0:08:32
10	0:08:32
11	0:08:17
12	0:08:23
13	0:08:17

And what a neat finishers medal.


This was a fun race and I am already thinking about running it next year!